I'm a fifty-something year old wife, mom to 2 grown kids, and the sole income earner. Follow along as I keep plugging away at daily life.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Taxes almost done

I think I have our tax return just about done. I'm weird - I always do our taxes using 2 programs just to see if they come out the same, LOL. I did TaxAct.com first and then TurboTax.com. I guess the way Turbo tax was asking the questions and had more "info" buttons jolted something in my brain to take a closer look at our medical expenses for the year. I had either forgotten or not realized insurance premiums counted towards the medical total. Well that amount of over $5000 plus the expenses from Dh having surgery, several doctors appointment copays, my copays to the chiropractor, Dh's medications and an eye exam and eye glasses for Ds took us quite a bit over the 7.5% threshold to be able to deduct for medical expenses. It bumped our refund up by over $400. Also, by doing the return in 2 different programs I found an error I made in entering our state sales tax info into the first tax program, and I had deducted too much, making our return $200 more than it should have been.

So, all in all, looks like we will be getting back almost $2700! I had already mentioned to Dh that it looked like we would get back a little over $1500.......Because.....well, because if I told him the whole amount he'd spend it! It's not like I keep the money from him so I can go by myself clothes and jewelry - I put it in savings and it gradually gets used up during the year for all the unplanned expenses that come up. So, I think I'll stick to my $1500 amount told to Dh and bank the rest in savings! My EF fund is growing nicely now that I finally put my mind to it and realized I just have keep Dh's mitts off of it.

Well, they were both the same in the end. It's just that I made a mistake in entering some sales tax info in TaxAct and caught it when I re-entered in TurboTax. And TurboTax way of questioning triggered me to look more into what I spent for the year in medical costs.

I never ever tell my husband how much the return is. I make him think we owe and we usually do. If I get anything back I save it and use it for things we need. If I told him I would have to justify every nickel spent.